Many experts conflate definitions of “reputation” with those of “branding,” which usually leads to claims that communications strategies and tools are the mechanisms for creating and managing reputational value. They've got it wrong.

Brands are mental constructs of promises and associations among consumers, reputations are objective measures of ongoing reality and future expectations among a diverse collection of company stakeholders. The tools for controlling corporate reputations and risk are the standard tools of operational control coupled with the tools of stakeholder expectation management.

Social media can help to the extent that brand promises are among the influencers of stakeholder expectations.
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